Toronto: 'The Bad Batch' Picked Up by Screen Media for U.S.

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The dystopian cannibal love story, starring Suki Waterhouse and Jason Momoa, was picked up at TIFF after a world premiere and a Netflix SVOD deal in Venice.

Following a bidding war at the Toronto Film Festival, Screen Media Films has picked up the U.S. theatrical rights to writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour's The Bad Batch.

The deal follows the movie's Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, where a world premiere last week was also followed by an online streaming deal with Netflix. In the latest deal, Screen Media will release The Bad Batch in theaters in the first quarter of 2017, after it plays at Fantastic Fest later this month.

The dystopian love story, set in a Texas wasteland among a community of cannibals, stars Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Giovanni Ribisi and Yolonda Ross. The movie, which had a North American premiere in Toronto, also has cameos from Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey and Diego Luna.

The Bad Batch is the follow-up to Amirpour’s directorial debut, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. "We've been impressed with Lily as a filmmaker ever since her first film and were blown away by her vision for The Bad Batch. We couldn't pass up the chance to work with her, Annapurna and Vice," Seth Needle, senior vp worldwide acquisitions at Screen Media Films, said Thursday in a statement.